Netflix wants to force you to become a paying customer

Netflix’s ban on VPN use is just one step the company is taking against pirates, a new report shows. In addition to looking to prevent paying customers from “stealing” via VPN, the company is also actively pursuing sites that host pirated Netflix original series via torrent links. This is the first time in years that Netflix has taken such an approach to protecting its copyrighted properties.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings famously said a while back that the company isn’t interested in going after people who pirate its shows, Torrent Freak reminds us. “Certainly there’s some torrenting that goes on, and that’s true around the world, but some of that just creates the demand,” he said less than three years ago.

However, things have changed since then, as Netflix is currently looking to prevent non-subscribers from accessing Netflix original shows via shady avenues. Rather, the company would like them to become paying customers who can stream the same TV series via the official service.

How is Netflix fighting pirates? As Torrent Freak explains, the company has significantly increased the number of takedown requests in the last year. So far, the company targeted almost 72,000 links to pirated content found on both torrenting and streaming sites. Most of these links have been removed, so don’t be surprised if you can’t find House of Cards, Narco, or Sense8 available for download on illegal sharing or for streaming on shady sites.